Managing subconference calls within a primary conference call

ABSTRACT

Managing subconference calls within a primary conference call. An approach includes establishing a primary conference call including a plurality of participants, establishing a subconference call including a subset of the plurality of participants, and providing respective output signals to each of the plurality of participants. Members of the primary conference call are provided with audio only of the primary conference call, and members of the subconference call are provided with audio of the subconference call. The approach also includes providing a visual display that shows respective groupings of members of the subconference call and members of the primary conference call.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention generally relates to conference calls and, moreparticularly, to methods and systems for managing subconference callswithin a primary conference call.

BACKGROUND

Businesses around the globe are constantly striving to reduce operatingcosts in order to improve profitability. Additionally, the population ofwork-at-home employees has been steadily increasing in recent years. Thepractice of utilizing conference calls helps companies reduce travelcosts and enables work-at-home and remote users. Conference calls canoften involve large numbers of people, often as many as a dozen andsometimes numbers into the hundreds.

There are often times when a sub-group of people on a conference callwish to communicate privately amongst themselves. For example, twoparticipants of a conference call may want to confer with each other ona private matter without other participants of a conference call beingable to observe or hear the conversation. This is commonly referred toas a sidebar.

One way such sidebar communications may be performed during conferencecalls is via instant messaging. Instant messaging allows forsimultaneous communication channels (e.g., one voice channel for theconference call and one instant messaging channel for the sidebar) witha different set of people. Conducting a sidebar using instant messagingrequires that each member of the sidebar use a computer to conduct theinstant messaging; however, participants of a conference call commonlyconnect via their telephone only, and do not have ready access to acomputer during the conference call. Even when conference callparticipants do have a computer and Internet connection, they commonlyrequire special firewall access in business situations (e.g., a virtualprivate network (VPN) at remote sites) in order to connect to eachother. Moreover, the communication medium of instant messaging does notoffer the same context and speed and type of information as that ofvoice.

Another way to perform sidebar communications during a conference callis to ask those participants already on the conference call to holdwhile the sidebar initiator puts everyone else on mute. The sidebarinitiator then uses another (e.g., second) phone or phone line andinitiates another independent call to one or more parties on theoriginal call. However, it typically costs more to establish anotherconference bridge between the multiple parties of the sidebar. Moreover,asking everyone else to hold creates a disruption to the originalconference call. Additionally, the members of the sidebar are isolatedfrom the original conference call and cannot follow what is being saidon the primary call while the sidebar is in progress. Also, it takes asignificant amount of time to locate the phone numbers of those that areto be part of the secondary call.

SUMMARY

In a first aspect of the invention, there is a method implemented in acomputer infrastructure having computer executable code tangiblyembodied on a computer readable storage medium having programminginstructions operable to implement the steps of the method. The methodincludes: establishing a primary conference call including a pluralityof participants, establishing a subconference call including a subset ofthe plurality of participants, and providing respective output signalsto each of the plurality of participants. Members of the primaryconference call are provided with audio only of the primary conferencecall, and members of the subconference call are provided with audio ofthe subconference call. The method also includes providing a visualdisplay that shows respective groupings of members of the subconferencecall and members of the primary conference call.

In another aspect of the invention, there is a method of deploying asystem for managing a subconference call within a primary conferencecall. The method includes providing a computer infrastructure thatoperates to: establish the primary conference call including a pluralityof participants; establish the subconference call including a subset ofthe plurality of participants; and provide respective output signals toeach of the plurality of participants. Members of the primary conferencecall are provided with audio only of the primary conference call, andmembers of the subconference call are provided with audio of thesubconference call. The computer infrastructure further operates to:provide a visual display that shows respective groupings of members ofthe subconference call and members of the primary conference call;generate a text transcript of the audio of the primary conference call;and transmit the text transcript to the members of the subconferencecall. The transmitting is performed in real time for a duration of thesubconference call or is performed at a conclusion of the subconferencecall. The providing the respective output signals includes providing themembers of the subconference call with the audio of the primaryconference call and an option to adjust a volume of the audio of theprimary conference call. The establishing the subconference callcomprises at least one of: detecting a predefined trigger word or phrasespoken by one of the plurality of participants, and receiving aninstruction via a graphical user interface to add or remove at least oneof the plurality of participants to/from the subconference call.

In another aspect of the invention, a system includes a conferenceserver comprising a processor, a memory, and a conference managerapplication. The conference manager application operates to: establishthe primary conference call including a plurality of participants;establish the subconference call including a subset of the plurality ofparticipants; and provide respective output signals to each of theplurality of participants. Members of the primary conference call areprovided with audio only of the primary conference call, and members ofthe subconference call are provided with audio of the subconferencecall. The conference manager application also operates to: provide avisual display that shows respective groupings of members of thesubconference call and members of the primary conference call; andtransmit a text transcript of a conversation of the primary conferencecall to the members of the subconference call.

In an additional aspect of the invention, a computer program productcomprising a computer usable storage medium having readable program codeembodied in the medium is provided. The computer program productincludes at least one component operable to: establish the primaryconference call including a plurality of participants; establish thesubconference call including a subset of the plurality of participants;and provide respective output signals to each of the plurality ofparticipants. Members of the primary conference call are provided withaudio only of the primary conference call, and members of thesubconference call are provided with audio of the subconference call.The at least one component is further operable to: provide a visualdisplay that shows respective groupings of members of the subconferencecall and members of the primary conference call; and transmit a texttranscript of a conversation of the primary conference call to themembers of the subconference call, wherein the transmitting is performedin real time for a duration of the subconference call or is performed ata conclusion of the subconference call

In a further aspect of the invention, there is a computer system formanaging a subconference call within a primary conference call. Thesystem comprises a CPU, a computer readable memory and a computerreadable storage media. Additionally, the system comprises first programinstructions to establish the primary conference call including aplurality of participants; second program instructions to establish thesubconference call including a subset of the plurality of participants;third program instructions to provide respective output signals to eachof the plurality of participants, wherein members of the primaryconference call are provided with audio only of the primary conferencecall, and members of the subconference call are provided with audio ofthe subconference call; fourth program instructions to provide a visualdisplay that shows respective groupings of members of the subconferencecall and members of the primary conference call; and fifth programinstructions to transmit a text transcript of a conversation of theprimary conference call to the members of the subconference call. Thefirst, second, third, fourth, and fifth program instructions are storedon the computer readable storage media for execution by the CPU via thecomputer readable memory.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is described in the detailed description whichfollows, in reference to the noted plurality of drawings by way ofnon-limiting examples of exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 1 an illustrative environment for implementing the steps inaccordance with aspects of the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a system in accordance with aspects of the invention;

FIGS. 3 and 4 show exemplary groupings of conference calls in accordancewith aspects of the invention;

FIG. 5 shows a visual display in accordance with aspects of theinvention;

FIGS. 6-9 show exemplary groupings of conference calls in accordancewith aspects of the invention; and

FIGS. 10-13 show exemplary process flows in accordance with aspects ofthe invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention generally relates to conference calls and, moreparticularly, to methods and systems for managing subconference callswithin a primary conference call. In accordance with aspects of theinvention, there are methods and systems to provision and manage a newprivate subconference call within an existing primary conference callwhere a sidebar discussion may occur without hanging up on the primaryconference call, and without using a second phone line or session toconnect the parties of the private subconference call. In embodiments, atext transcript of the primary conference call is provided to partieswithin the subconference call while the parties are in the subconferencecall. This enables the parties in the subconference call to stay abreastof, or later come up to speed with, what transpired in the primaryconference call during the holding of the subconference call. Inembodiments, a participant may be automatically placed into, or takenout of, a subconference call by speaking word triggers based on verbalqueues. In additional embodiments, participants are provided with avisual indication of who is in the primary conference call and who is inthe subconference call. Furthermore, implementations of the inventionutilize a single sign-on to the primary conference call, andparticipants may join a subconference call without having to re-entertheir sign-on information.

System Environment

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: an electrical connectionhaving one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber,a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storagedevice, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storagemedium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a programfor use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent invention may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code may execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative environment 10 for managing the processesin accordance with the invention. To this extent, the environment 10includes a server or other computing system 12 that can perform theprocesses described herein. In particular, the computing system 12includes a computing device 14. The computing device 14 can be residenton a network infrastructure or computing device of a third party serviceprovider (any of which is generally represented in FIG. 1).

The computing device 14 also includes a processor 20, memory 22A, an I/Ointerface 24, and a bus 26. The memory 22A can include local memoryemployed during actual execution of program code, bulk storage, andcache memories which provide temporary storage of at least some programcode in order to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved frombulk storage during execution. In addition, the computing deviceincludes random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), and anoperating system (O/S).

The computing device 14 is in communication with the external I/Odevice/resource 28 and the storage system 22B. For example, the I/Odevice 28 can comprise any device that enables an individual to interactwith the computing device 14 (e.g., user interface) or any device thatenables the computing device 14 to communicate with one or more othercomputing devices using any type of communications link. The externalI/O device/resource 28 may be for example, a handheld device, PDA,handset, keyboard etc.

In general, the processor 20 executes computer program code (e.g.,program control 44), which can be stored in the memory 22A and/orstorage system 22B. Moreover, in accordance with aspects of theinvention, the program control 44 controls a conference manager 60configured to perform one or more of the processes described herein. Theconference manager 60 can be implemented as one or more program code inthe program control 44 stored in memory 22A as separate or combinedmodules. Additionally, the conference manager 60 may be implemented asseparate dedicated processors or a single or several processors toprovide the function of these tools. While executing the computerprogram code, the processor 20 can read and/or write data to/from memory22A, storage system 22B, and/or I/O interface 24. The program codeexecutes the processes of the invention. The bus 26 provides acommunications link between each of the components in the computingdevice 14.

In embodiments, the computing device 14 communicates with a plurality ofterminals 65 a, 65 b, . . . , 65 n (referred to generally as 65). Asdescribed herein, each terminal 65 comprises a communication device thatenables a user to communicate in a conference call environment. Eachterminal 65 may comprise, for example, a land-line telephone, a cellulartelephone, a smart phone, or any other suitable computer device (e.g.,desktop, laptop, notebook, netbook, or tablet computer) capable of beingused as a telephone in association with a conference call. In accordancewith aspects of the invention, the conference manager 60 manages aprimary conference call amongst the plurality of terminals 65, and alsosimultaneously manages one or more private subconference calls amongst asubset of the plurality of terminals 65, as described in greater detailherein.

The computing device 14 can comprise any general purpose computingarticle of manufacture capable of executing computer program codeinstalled thereon (e.g., a personal computer, server, etc.). However, itis understood that the computing device 14 is only representative ofvarious possible equivalent-computing devices that may perform theprocesses described herein. To this extent, in embodiments, thefunctionality provided by the computing device 14 can be implemented bya computing article of manufacture that includes any combination ofgeneral and/or specific purpose hardware and/or computer program code.In each embodiment, the program code and hardware can be created usingstandard programming and engineering techniques, respectively.

Similarly, the computing infrastructure 12 is only illustrative ofvarious types of computer infrastructures for implementing theinvention. For example, in embodiments, the server 12 comprises two ormore computing devices (e.g., a server cluster) that communicate overany type of communications link, such as a network, a shared memory, orthe like, to perform the process described herein. Further, whileperforming the processes described herein, one or more computing deviceson the server 12 can communicate with one or more other computingdevices external to the server 12 using any type of communications link.The communications link can comprise any combination of wired and/orwireless links; any combination of one or more types of networks (e.g.,the Internet, a wide area network, a local area network, a virtualprivate network, etc.); and/or utilize any combination of transmissiontechniques and protocols.

FIG. 2 shows a system in accordance with aspects of the invention. Thesystem comprises a conference server 75 which may comprise the computingdevice 14 including the conference manager 60 described with respect toFIG. 1. The conference server 75 communicates with a plurality ofterminals 65 a-f via a network 80. The terminals 65 a-f may be the sameas terminals 65 described with respect to FIG. 1, and may comprise, forexample, a land-line telephone, a cellular telephone, a smart phone, ora computer device (e.g., desktop, laptop, notebook, netbook, or tabletcomputer) capable of being used as a telephone (e.g., capable of sendingand receiving at least audio signal/data in association with aconference call). The network 80 may comprise any suitable communicationnetwork such as a LAN or WAN, and in particular may comprise a packetswitched network.

As depicted in FIG. 2, one or more of the terminals may be directlyconnected to the network 80, such as terminals 65 a and 65 b. Otherterminals may be indirectly connected to the network 80, such asterminals 65 c and 65 d connected via the Internet 90, and terminals 65e and 65 f connected via a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 95.

The conference server 75 may further comprise a mixer 100 that receivesmedia streams from conference participants (e.g., terminals 65 a-f)during a conference, mixes the media streams, and redistributes anappropriate output media stream to each of the terminals 65 a-f. Themixer 100 may be comprised in the conference server 75, as shown in FIG.2, or may be a separate entity that communicates with the conferenceserver 75. Aspects of the invention are described using audio mediastreams as an example; however, the media employed by the conferencecall and processed by the mixer 100 may include any suitable media, suchas audio, video, text, etc.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, the conference server 75manages a primary conference call amongst the terminals 65 a-f, and alsomanages one or more private subconference calls amongst a subset of theterminals 65 a-f. In embodiments, the conference manager 60 maintains alist of which conference participants are members of the primaryconference call, and maintains a separate list of which conferenceparticipants are members of a subconference call. The conference manager60 may also maintain other conference data, such as associations betweenusers and terminals, network locations of terminals, etc., all of whichmay be stored in storage system 22B. The conference manager 60 informsthe mixer 100 of the respective members of the primary conference calland the subconference call. The mixer 100 receives all of the mediainputs from all terminals, and generates an appropriate respectiveoutput signal for each respective terminal based on whether a particularterminal is a member of the primary conference call or a member of thesubconference call.

For example, FIGS. 3 and 4 pictorially depict groupings of the terminals65 a-f in various conference calls. In particular, FIG. 3 shows agrouping of terminals 65 a-f in a primary conference call 125. In theprimary conference call, the mixer 100 receives an input media signal(e.g., an audio signal) from each terminal 65 a-f. The mixer 100combines the signals from terminals 65 b-f and provides this combinedmedia stream as an output to terminal 65 a. In this manner, the user ofterminal 65 a hears what the users of terminals 65 b-f say during theprimary conference call 125. Similarly, the mixer combines the signalsfrom terminals 65 a and 65 c-f and provides this combined media streamto terminal 65 b, and so on for each respective terminal. Inimplementations, each member of the primary conference call 125 is ableto hear every other member of the primary conference call 125.

FIG. 4 shows the creation of a private subconference call 130 within theprimary conference call 125. As used herein, a private subconferencecall (also referred to as a virtual call) is a private conference callbetween two or more parties who are also simultaneously part of anotherpreviously established conference call. In embodiments, the primaryconference call has a number “N” users and the virtual call has a number“N” minus “P” users, where “P” is less than “N”, e.g., a proper subset.In the particular example shown in FIG. 4, the subconference call 130includes terminals 65 a-c, while the primary conference call 125includes terminals 65 a-f. The members of the subconference call 130(e.g., terminals 65 a-c) are still connected to the primary conferencecall 125. The mixer 100 creates the outgoing signals for each terminal65 d-f such that the members of the primary conference call 125 can heareach other, but cannot hear the members of the private subconferencecall 130. For example, a user of terminal 65 d may hear what the usersof terminals 65 e and 65 f say; however, the user of terminal 65 dcannot hear what the users of terminals 65 a-c say during thesubconference call 130.

The mixer 100 creates the outgoing signals for each terminal 65 a-c suchthat the members of the private subconference call 130 can hear eachother. For example, the user of terminal 65 a can hear the users ofterminals 65 b and 65 c. In a first embodiment, the mixer 100 isconfigured to permit the members of the private subconference call 130to hear the members of the primary conference call 125. For example, inthis embodiment, the user of terminal 65 a can hear the users ofterminals 65 d-f. In an alternative embodiment, the mixer 100 isconfigured such that the members of the private subconference call 130cannot hear the members of the primary conference call 125. For example,in this alternative embodiment, the user of terminal 65 a cannot hearthe users of terminals 65 d-f.

In an even further embodiment, the members of the subconference call 130are provided with the audio of the primary conference call 125 and canindividually adjust the volume of the primary conference call 125 thatis being output by their terminal. For example, terminal 65 a mayreceive the audio from all terminals 65 b-f, and may reduce the volumeof the audio from terminals 65 d-f relative to the audio from terminals65 b and 65 c. In this manner, the user of terminal 65 a can hearconversations in both the subconference call 130 and the primaryconference call 125 simultaneously, but with the primary conference call125 conversation at a lower volume than the subconference call 130conversation. As such, the members of the subconference call 130 may, attheir individual control, determine the level of audio from the primaryconference call 125 that will be mixed with the audio of thesubconference call 130. This volume control may be implemented as afeature of a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed by the terminals65.

The invention is not limited to the exemplary groupings shown in FIGS. 3and 4, and any desired number of terminals may be included in theprimary conference call 125 and private subconference call 130.Moreover, there may be more than one private subconference at any giventime within a single primary conference. When plural subconferencesexist simultaneously, they may be mutually exclusive of one another, orone subconference may be embedded (e.g., nested) within anothersubconference. The conference manager 60 maintains a definition of themembers of the primary conference and each private subconference in theform of lists of users and/or terminals associated with the users. Theconference manager 60 provides these definitions to the mixer 100, whichreceives the input signals from each terminal and generates a respectiveoutput signal for each terminal based on the definitions.

The conference server 75, including the conference manager 60 and mixer100, may employ any suitable communication protocol for establishing,managing, and ending the primary conference call 125 and one or moreprivate subconference calls 130. For example, the conference server 75may use session initiated protocol (SIP) commands to initiate, conduct,and tear down the primary conference call 125 and any privatesubconference calls 130. Alternatively, the conference server 75 mayutilize Packet Based Multimedia Communications Systems (e.g., the H.323standard) for maintaining the primary conference call 125 whileinitiating, conducting, and ending the private subconference call 130.The underlying protocol for handling the various conferences is notimportant to the instant invention, however, and the skilled artisanwill recognize that different protocols may be used within the scope ofthe invention.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, when a privatesubconference call 130 exists within a primary conference call 125, theconference manager 60 records a transcript of the audio of the primaryconference call 125. In embodiments, the conference manager 60 isprogrammed with, or is provided access to, a voice-to-text transcribingcomponent. The conference manager 60 monitors the audio signals of themembers of the primary conference call 125 and transcribes these audiosignals (e.g., transcribes the speech) to a text format. Inimplementations, the conference manager 60 provides this texttranscription of the audio of the primary conference call 125 to themembers of the private subconference call 130. In this manner, membersof the subconference call 130 may monitor the conversation in theprimary conference call 125 while the subconference call 130 is ongoing.

For example, referring to FIG. 4, the conference manager 60 generates atext transcript of the audio of the primary conference call 125 (e.g.,what is said by the users of terminals 65 d-f), and transmits this texttranscript to the members of the subconference call 130 (e.g., terminals65 a-c). In embodiments, during the time frame that the subconferencecall 130 is in place, each terminal 65 a-c is provided with a real timetranscript of the voice-to-text conversion of the conversation occurringin the primary conference call 125. This allows the subconference call130 participants to follow the primary conference call 125 conversationwhile on the subconference call 130. Voice-to-text transcriptionsoftware (also called speech-to-text transcription software, voicetranscription software, an speech recognition software) is known suchthat further explanation of creating the text transcript is not believednecessary.

In embodiments, the conference manager 60 generates and provides thetext transcript for the entire duration of the subconference call 130.In one embodiment, the conference manager 60 transmits the texttranscript to each one of the terminals included in the subconferencecall 130 as a real-time, e.g., line-by-line, text display that may beviewed on the user's terminal (e.g., terminal 65 a). Such real timetransmission may be provided in any desired manner including, forexample, standards based real time feeds such as RSS (Really SimpleSyndication) or auto refreshing web pages. Additionally oralternatively, the conference manager 60 saves the text transcript as afile, and transmits the file to each of the terminals associated withthe subconference call 130 at the conclusion of the subconference call130. This latter embodiment is useful, for example, for a user of astandard cellular phone that cannot view the text transcript in realtime.

In accordance with further aspects of the invention, the conferencemanager 60 provides visualization data to the terminals 65, thevisualization data indicating respective participants of the primaryconference call 125 and the subconference call 130. The terminals 65 mayuse the visualization data to generate a visual display that shows whichparticipants are part of the primary conference call 125 and whichparticipants are part of the subconference call 130.

For example, FIG. 5 shows a visual display 150 that may be displayed ona video display device of a terminal 65. The visual display 150 includesavatars 165 a-f corresponding to the terminals 65 a-f (e.g., from FIG.4). The visual display 150 shows avatars 165 d-f within a first area 170that corresponds to the primary conference call 125 from FIG. 4. Thevisual display 150 also shows avatars 165 a-c within a second area 175that corresponds to the subconference call 130 from FIG. 4. In thismanner, a conference participant may be provided with visual informationthat indicates who can hear the participant at any given time. Theavatars (e.g., avatars 165 a-f) may be any desired graphic, and mayoptionally include a username 180 indicating an identity of a userassociated with the avatar. In further implementations, the avatars maybe replaced with a video feed of the respective participant.

As described above, the conference manager 60 maintains lists of therespective participants of the primary conference call 125 and thesubconference call 130. In embodiments, the conference manager 60 usesthese lists to create a visual display 150, and the conference manager60 transmits data defining the visual display to the terminals 65. Theterminals 65 receive the data defining the visual display, and displaythe visual display on a video display device. When personalized avatarsand/or usernames are used in the visual display 150, the conferencemanager 60 stores the personalized avatars and/or usernames andtransmits the personalized avatars and/or usernames to the terminals aspart of the visualization data. Alternatively, the conference manager 60transmits the lists of participants to the terminals 65, and a clientapplication running on the terminal 65 generates the visual display 150from the received lists. As participants move into and/or out of asubconference call, the conference manager 60 updates the lists ofparticipants, and sends new visualization data to the terminals 65 forupdating the lists of participants to reflect the changed participants.

According to aspects of the invention, the visual display 150 maycomprise a graphic user interface (GUI) that can receive input commandsfrom a user of a terminal 65. In a particular exemplary implementation,the visual display 150 comprises a GUI which permits a user of theterminal to drag and drop avatars into and out of the second area 175that corresponds to the subconference call 130. The drag and drop inputmay be provided to the GUI via a mouse pointer, touch screen, or anyother suitable input technique.

In embodiments, a user whose avatar is within the second area 175 thatcorresponds to the subconference call 130 may use the GUI to drag theiravatar outside of the second area 175. For example, the user associatedwith avatar 165 b may interact with the GUI displayed on their terminal65 b to drag the avatar 165 b outside of the second area 175. Uponreceiving this input, this user's terminal 65 b transmits a message tothe conference manager 60, which removes this user from thesubconference call 130. The conference manager 60 also transmits updatedvisualization data to the other terminals 65 to reflect this change. Theconference manager 60 also controls or informs the mixer 100 that theterminal 65 b is no longer included in the subconference call 130 sothat the mixer 100 can provide an appropriate output signal for theterminal 65 b. In this manner, a user may use the GUI to leave thesubconference call 130 and return to the primary conference call 125.

In another embodiment, a user who is already a member of thesubconference call 130 (e.g., a user whose avatar is within the secondarea 175) may invite another user to join the subconference call 130 bydragging and dropping the other user's avatar into the second area 175in the GUI. For example, the user associated with avatar 165 a mayinteract with the GUI displayed on their terminal 65 a to drag theavatar 165 e into the second area 175. Upon receiving this input, thisuser's terminal 65 a transmits a message to the conference manager 60,which transmits an invitation message to the terminal 65 e. The user ofterminal 65 e may use the GUI to accept the invitation, at which pointthe terminal 65 e transmits an acceptance message back to the conferencemanager 60, and the conference manager 60 adds the terminal 65 e to thesubconference call 130. The conference manager 60 also transmits updatedvisualization data to the other terminals to reflect this change, andinforms the mixer of the status change for appropriate signalprocessing. Alternatively, the user of terminal 65 e may use the GUI toreject the invitation to join the subconference call 130, at which pointthe terminal 65 e transmits a refusal message to the conference manager60, and the conference manager 60 keeps the terminal 65 e in the primaryconference call 125 rather than moving the terminal 65 e to thesubconference call 130.

In accordance with additional aspects of the invention, conferenceparticipants are provided with the ability to transfer into and out ofthe subconference call 130 by speaking pre-defined words or phrases(also referred to herein as word triggers) into their terminal. Inembodiments, the conference manager 60 maintains a list of pre-definedtrigger words and monitors the audio signals of the respective terminalsfor the occurrence of any of the trigger words. The trigger words may bepre-defined by one or more of the participants, and may be stored at theconference server 75 (e.g., in memory 22B shown in FIG. 1). The samespeech recognition software used by the conference manager 60 forgenerating the text transcript may also be used to detect trigger words.

In embodiments, upon recognition of one of the trigger words in theaudio stream of one of the terminals 65, the conference manager 60automatically places the participant who spoke the trigger word into asubconference call 130 with a predefined subset of the primaryconference call 125 participants. Alternatively, upon recognition of oneof the trigger words in the audio stream of one of the terminals 65, theconference manager 60 transmits a message to the terminal 65 asking theuser of the terminal whether they wish to be moved to a subconferencecall 130. The user may respond with a voice command, GUI input, orkeypad or keyboard input at the terminal 65. The conference manager 60,upon receipt of the answer from the terminal 65, either places the userin a private subconference call 130 or keeps the user in the primaryconference call 125.

According to even further aspects of the invention, a user is notrequired to sign-on (e.g., provide authentication information) to createand/or join a subconference call 130. In embodiments, participants entertheir authentication information (e.g., username, password, passcode,etc.) one time to initially join the primary conference call 125. Once auser is successfully authenticated and included in the primaryconference call 125, the conference manager 60 does not require the userto re-enter their authentication information to move to a subconferencecall 130. In this manner, the user perceives the existing teleconferencesession as being reused.

In further embodiments, the conference manager 60 is programmed tosynchronize two different communication devices for a single user who isa member of an existing conference (e.g., included in either the primaryconference call 125 or subconference call 130). In embodiments, theconference manager 60 detects when a conference participant beginscommunicating on a second communication device. Upon detecting that theparticipant is communicating on a second communication device (e.g., adifferent phone device), different from the terminal 65 with which theparticipant is connected to the conference, the conference manager 60mutes the participant in the conference (e.g., instructs the mixer 100to not send this participant's audio to the other conferenceparticipants).

In an illustrative example shown in FIG. 6, a conference call 200 (whichmay be a primary conference call or a private subconference call) mayinclude participants associated with terminals 65 a-f. When aparticipant associated with terminal 65 f answers an incoming call on adifferent communication device 65 g, the conference manager 60 detectsthe other call on the different communication device 65 g and mutes theaudio from the terminal 65 f for the rest of the terminals 65 a-e. Inthis manner, the users of the other terminals 65 a-e do not hear theconversation that is taking place on the different communication device65 g. In addition to the muting, the conference manager 60 may alsogenerate a text transcript of the conversation on the conference call200, as described herein, and transmit the text transcript to theterminal 65 f. In this manner, the user who is temporarily taken awayfrom the conference call 200 to attend to another call on the differentcommunication device 65 g can still follow the conversation of theconference call 200. The conference manager 60 detects when the userterminates the other call on the different communication device 65 g,and automatically turns off the muting of terminal 65 f and/or stopsgenerating the text transcript.

In accordance with other aspects of the invention, the conferencemanager 60 is programmed to transfer a user from a first terminal to asecond terminal, without terminating the user's connection to aconference call. In embodiments, a user may enter (e.g., dial) apre-defined code on their terminal followed by a phone number of anothercommunication device. The terminal transmits this code and phone numberto the conference manager 60, and the conference manager 60 places acall to the phone number. When the user answers the other communicationdevice, the conference manager 60 disconnects the terminal from theconference and connects the other communication device to theconference. In this manner, a conference call participant may changeterminals (e.g., switch from their office landline phone to a cellularphone) without having to leave the conference and rejoin (e.g., hang-up,dial in again, and re-enter authentication information) using the secondterminal.

In an illustrative example shown in FIG. 7, a conference call 200′ mayinclude participants associated with terminals 65 a-f. The participantassociated with terminal 65 f wishes to transfer to terminal 65 g whilestaying on the conference call. The participant enters the predefinedcode into terminal 65 f, along with the phone number of terminal 65 g.The terminal 65 f transmits the code and phone number to the conferencemanager 60. The conference manager 60 initiates a call to the terminal65 g using the received phone number. When the participant answers thecall on terminal 65 g, the conference manager 60 disconnects terminal 65f from the conference call 200′ and connects terminal 65 g to theconference call 200′, as shown in FIG. 8. In this manner, theparticipant may seamlessly change terminals without having to hang upand subsequently re-enter the conference call.

In accordance with additional aspects of the invention, the conferencemanager 60 is programmed to detect when a terminal 65 is set to mute andwhen the participant is talking with the terminal 65 on mute. In suchcircumstances, the conference manager 60 automatically switches theterminal 65 off of mute so that the user's voice may be heard by othermembers of the conference call. Additionally, the conference manager 60may be programmed to detect when a terminal 65 is set to mute and whenanother participant of the conference call speaks the name of the userwhose terminal is muted. Based on this combination of factors, theconference manager 60 is programmed to automatically switch the terminal65 off of mute. The same speech recognition software used by theconference manager 60 for generating the text transcript may also beused to detect a user's name spoken by one of the conference callparticipants.

In accordance with further aspects of the invention, the conferencemanager 60 is programmed to detect which one of a plurality ofconference calls a single user is focused on, and automatically switchthat user to the focused-on conference call. As depicted in FIG. 9, auser may access two different conference calls 200″ and 200′″ using asingle terminal 65 a. The terminal 65 a may comprise a computer devicehaving a webcam, microphone, and speaker, as well as a video display.The video display may permit the user to have a different widows open onone or more video displays, one window for each respective conferencecall 200″ and 200′″.

In embodiments, the conference manager 60 communicates with the terminal65 a to detect the particular conference call (e.g., 200″ or 200′″) onwhich the user is focused. The focus detection may be performed in anysuitable manner, such as by detecting which window is active on thecomputer desktop, using an eye focus sensor that detects which windowthe user's eyes are looking at, etc. When the conference manager 60determines that the user is focused on the first conference call 200″,the conference manager 60 mutes this terminal 65 a in the secondconference call 200′″, and vice versa. In this manner, the conferencemanager 60 automatically makes one conference call (e.g., 200″) active,and relegates the other conference call (e.g., 200′″) to the background.In implementations, the conference manager 60 generates a texttranscript of the conversation on the muted conference call (e.g., 200′″in this example) and transmits the text transcript to the terminal 65 a.

Flow Diagram

FIGS. 10-13 show exemplary flows for performing aspects of the presentinvention. The steps of FIGS. 10-13 may be implemented in theenvironment of FIG. 1 and/or FIG. 2, for example.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Furthermore, the invention can take the form of a computer programproduct accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable mediumproviding program code for use by or in connection with a computer orany instruction execution system. The software and/or computer programproduct can be implemented in the environment of FIG. 1 and/or FIG. 2.For the purposes of this description, a computer-usable or computerreadable medium can be any apparatus that can contain, store,communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.The medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic,infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or apropagation medium. Examples of a computer-readable storage mediuminclude a semiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape, aremovable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-onlymemory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk and an optical disk. Currentexamples of optical disks include compact disk-read only memory(CD-ROM), compact disc-read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD.

FIG. 10 depicts an exemplary flow for a process in accordance withaspects of the present invention. At step 510, the conference server(e.g., conference server 75) establishes a primary conference callincluding a plurality of participants. The primary conference call maybe the same as primary conference call 125 described above with respectto FIG. 3. Each participant may connect to the primary conference callusing a terminal device, such as terminals 65 described above withrespect to FIGS. 1-3.

At step 520, the conference server (e.g., via conference manager 60)provides a visual display of the members of the primary conference call.The display may be similar to display 150 shown in FIG. 5.

At step 530, the conference server establishes a private subconferencecall including a subset of the plurality of participants. The privatesubconference call may be the same as private subconference call 130described above with respect to FIG. 4. A participant of the primaryconference call may initiate or join the private subconference call in amanner described herein, such as by speaking a trigger word into theirterminal and/or by providing input to a GUI portion of the visualdisplay (e.g., dragging and dropping avatars into an area of the GUIrepresenting the subconference call).

At step 540, the conference server updates the visual display toseparately show the members of private subconference call and themembers of primary conference call. This may be performed as describedwith respect to FIG. 5.

At step 550, the conference server provides a text transcript ofconversation in the primary conference call to members of the privatesubconference call. This may be performed as described with respect toFIG. 4. The text transcript may be provided in real time during theprivate subconference call and/or as a file at the conclusion of theprivate subconference call.

FIG. 11 depicts an exemplary flow for a process in accordance withaspects of the present invention. At step 610, the conference server(e.g., conference server 75) establishes a conference call amongst aplurality of participants. This may be performed as in step 510.

At step 620, the conference server detects that a participant of theconference call is receiving a call on another communication device thatis not connected to the conference call. This may be performed in amanner as described above with respect to FIG. 6. For example, inembodiments, step 620 is performed by the conference servercommunicating with a call server that is handling the call on the othercommunication device, the conference server receiving an indication fromthe call server that the user is engaged in a call on the other device.

At step 630, the conference server mutes the participant's terminal inthe conference call so that other members of the conference call do nothear the conversation on the other communication device. This may beperformed by the conference manager (e.g., conference manager 60)instructing the mixer (e.g., mixer 100) to not include any audioreceived from the participant's terminal to the other participants.

At step 650, the conference server provides a text transcript ofconversation in the conference call to participant who is speaking onthe other communication device. This may be performed as described withrespect to FIG. 4, and similar to step 550.

FIG. 12 depicts an exemplary flow for a process in accordance withaspects of the present invention. At step 710, the conference server(e.g., conference server 75) establishes a conference call amongst aplurality of participants. This may be performed as in step 510.

At step 720, the conference server receives a transfer command and atransfer phone number from a first terminal connected to the conferencecall. This may be performed as described with respect to FIGS. 7 and 8.For example, a user who is connected to the conference call on a firstterminal may wish to transfer their connection to the conference call toa second terminal without dropping the connection to the conferencecall. In embodiments, the user enters a predefined transfer code (e.g.,series of key strokes) in the first terminal, along with a phone numberof the second terminal. This data is sent from the first terminal to theconference server.

At step 730, the conference server initiates a call to the secondterminal using the phone number (e.g., the phone number received at step720). At step 740, when the user answers the call on the secondterminal, the conference server connects the second terminal to theexisting conference call and disconnects the first terminal from theconference call. In this manner, the user may perform a soft-transferfrom one terminal to another without being dropped from the conferencecall.

FIG. 13 depicts an exemplary flow for a process in accordance withaspects of the present invention. At step 810, a user connects to twoseparate conference calls using a same terminal. This may be performedas described above with respect to FIG. 9, in which the terminal has thecapability to dial into two (or more) separate conference calls that areoccurring at the same time.

At step 820, a conference server detects which conference call the useris focused on. This may be performed as described above with respect toFIG. 9. For example, the conference server may poll the user's terminalto determine which conference window is active, and which conferencewindow is inactive. Additionally or alternatively, the terminal mayinclude eye focus sensor that detects which conference window the useris focused on (e.g., looking at) at any particular time. The terminaltransmits data indicating the focused-on conference to the conferenceserver. From this data, the conference manager may determine the focusedconference and the non-focused conference.

At step 830, the conference server instructs the mixer (e.g., mixer 100)to mute the terminal in the non-focused conference, while permitting theaudio signal from the terminal to be transmitted to members of thefocused conference. At step 840, the conference server provides a texttranscript of the conversation in the non-focused conference call to theterminal. This may be performed as described with respect to FIG. 4, andsimilar to step 550.

In embodiments, a service provider, such as a Solution Integrator, couldoffer to perform the processes described herein. In this case, theservice provider can create, maintain, deploy, support, etc., thecomputer infrastructure that performs the process steps of the inventionfor one or more customers. These customers may be, for example, anybusiness that uses technology. In return, the service provider canreceive payment from the customer(s) under a subscription and/or feeagreement and/or the service provider can receive payment from the saleof advertising content to one or more third parties.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims, if applicable, areintended to include any structure, material, or act for performing thefunction in combination with other claimed elements as specificallyclaimed. The description of the present invention has been presented forpurposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to beexhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain theprincipals of the invention and the practical application, and to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention forvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated. Accordingly, while the invention has beendescribed in terms of embodiments, those of skill in the art willrecognize that the invention can be practiced with modifications and inthe spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method implemented in a computer infrastructureincluding a computer device, comprising: establishing a primaryconference call including a plurality of participants; establishing asubconference call including a subset of the plurality of participants;providing, by the computer device, respective output signals to each ofthe plurality of participants, wherein members of the primary conferencecall are provided with audio only of the primary conference call, andmembers of the subconference call are provided with audio of thesubconference call; and providing, by the computer device, a visualdisplay that shows respective groupings of members of the subconferencecall and members of the primary conference call, wherein theestablishing the subconference call comprises detecting a predefinedtrigger word or phrase spoken by one of the plurality of participants.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing the respective outputsignals includes providing the members of the subconference call withthe audio of the primary conference call.
 3. The method of claim 2,further comprising adjusting a volume of the audio of the primaryconference call relative to the audio of the subconference call.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising changing the visual display whenone of the plurality of participants adds to or drops out of thesubconference call.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:generating a text transcript of the audio of the primary conferencecall; and transmitting the text transcript to the members of thesubconference call.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the generating andthe transmitting the text transcript are performed in real time for aduration of the subconference call.
 7. The method of claim 5, whereinthe transmitting the text transcript is performed at a conclusion of thesubconference call.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein, upon thedetecting, the one of the plurality of participants is placed into ortaken out of the subconference call.
 9. The method of claim 1, whereinthe visual display comprises a graphical user interface (GUI), andfurther comprising receiving an instruction via the GUI to add or removeat least one of the plurality of participants to/from the subconferencecall.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the plurality ofparticipants is connected to the primary conference call or thesubconference call using a first terminal, and further comprising:detecting that the one of the plurality of participants is conductinganother call on a second terminal; muting the first terminal in theprimary conference call or the subconference call; and providing a texttranscript of the primary conference call or the subconference call tothe first terminal while the user is conducting the other call on thesecond terminal.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the pluralityof participants is connected to the primary conference call or thesubconference call using a first terminal, and further comprising:receiving a transfer command and transfer phone number from the firstterminal; initiating a call to a second terminal using the transferphone number; upon the second terminal answering the call, connectingthe second terminal to the primary conference call or the subconferencecall, and disconnecting the first terminal from the primary conferencecall or the subconference call.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein oneof the plurality of participants is connected to the primary conferencecall or the subconference call using a terminal, the one of theplurality of participants is connected to another conference call usingthe terminal, and further comprising: determining a focused conferencecall and a non-focused conference call by detecting that the one of theplurality of participants is focused on either: (i) the primaryconference call or the subconference call, or (ii) the other conferencecall; muting the first terminal in the non-focused conference call;providing a text transcript of the non-focused conference call to theterminal.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the plurality ofparticipants is connected to the primary conference call or thesubconference call using a terminal, and further comprising: detectingthat the terminal is muted while the one of the plurality ofparticipants is speaking; and turning off the muting based on thedetecting.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein a service provider atleast one of creates, maintains, deploys and supports the computerinfrastructure.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein steps of claim 1 areprovided by a service provider on a subscription, advertising, and/orfee basis.
 16. A method of deploying a system for managing asubconference call within a primary conference call, comprising:providing a computer infrastructure that operates to: establish theprimary conference call including a plurality of participants; establishthe subconference call including a subset of the plurality ofparticipants; provide respective output signals to each of the pluralityof participants, wherein members of the primary conference call areprovided with audio only of the primary conference call, and members ofthe subconference call are provided with audio of the subconferencecall; provide a visual display that shows respective groupings ofmembers of the subconference call and members of the primary conferencecall; generate a text transcript of the audio of the primary conferencecall; and transmit the text transcript to the members of thesubconference call, wherein the transmitting is performed in real timefor a duration of during the subconference call; the providing therespective output signals includes providing the members of thesubconference call with the audio of the primary conference call and anoption to adjust a volume of the audio of the primary conference call;and the establishing the subconference call comprises at least one of:detecting a predefined trigger word or phrase spoken by one of theplurality of participants, and receiving an instruction via a graphicaluser interface to add or remove at least one of the plurality ofparticipants to/from the subconference call, wherein the providing therespective output signals, the providing the visual display, thegenerating the text transcript, and the transmitting the text transcriptare performed by the computer infrastructure including a computerdevice.
 17. A system, comprising a conference server comprising aprocessor, a memory, and a conference manager application, wherein theconference manager application operates to: establish the primaryconference call including a plurality of participants; establish thesubconference call including a subset of the plurality of participants;provide respective output signals to each of the plurality ofparticipants, wherein members of the primary conference call areprovided with audio only of the primary conference call, and members ofthe subconference call are provided with audio of the subconferencecall; provide a visual display that shows respective groupings ofmembers of the subconference call and members of the primary conferencecall; and transmit a text transcript of a conversation of the primaryconference call to the members of the subconference call.
 18. The systemof claim 17, wherein the providing the respective output signalsincludes providing the members of the subconference call with the audioof the primary conference call.
 19. The system of claim 17, wherein theconference manager application operates to change the visual displaywhen one of the plurality of participants adds to or drops out of thesubconference call.
 20. The system of claim 17, wherein the transmittingthe text transcript is performed in real time for a duration of thesubconference call.
 21. The system of claim 17, wherein the transmittingthe text transcript is performed at a conclusion of the subconferencecall.
 22. The system of claim 17, wherein: the establishing thesubconference call comprises detecting a predefined trigger word orphrase spoken by one of the plurality of participants; and upon thedetecting, the one of the plurality of participants is placed into ortaken out of the subconference call.
 23. A computer program productcomprising a computer usable storage medium having readable program codeembodied in the storage medium, wherein the storage medium is anapparatus or device, the computer program code when executed on acomputing device causes the computing device to: establish the primaryconference call including a plurality of participants; establish thesubconference call including a subset of the plurality of participants;provide respective output signals to each of the plurality ofparticipants, wherein members of the primary conference call areprovided with audio only of the primary conference call, and members ofthe subconference call are provided with audio of the subconferencecall; provide a visual display that shows respective groupings ofmembers of the subconference call and members of the primary conferencecall; and transmit a text transcript of a conversation of the primaryconference call to the members of the subconference call, wherein thetransmitting is performed in real time for a duration of thesubconference call.
 24. A computer system for establishing a conferencecall, the system comprising: a CPU, a computer readable memory, and acomputer readable storage media; first program instructions to establishthe primary conference call including a plurality of participants;second program instructions to establish the subconference callincluding a subset of the plurality of participants; third programinstructions to provide respective output signals to each of theplurality of participants, wherein members of the primary conferencecall are provided with audio only of the primary conference call, andmembers of the subconference call are provided with audio of thesubconference call; fourth program instructions to provide a visualdisplay that shows respective groupings of members of the subconferencecall and members of the primary conference call; and fifth programinstructions to transmit a text transcript of a conversation of theprimary conference call to the members of the subconference call,wherein the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth program instructionsare stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by theCPU via the computer readable memory.